Getting my Vantages Soon!---Amp Advice Please

Hi all! I will soon be taking delivery of my Vantages and I am waiting with great excitement and anticipation of hearing these things in my home! I am currently trying to figure out what amplifier to use. There are so many out there, the selection process is a bit overwhelming. I am building a 5.1 system around the Vantages and will probably use it 50/50 music and movies.

With that in mind, I am looking for a nice 2 channel amp to get me started and something that I can hold onto for dedicated 2 channel listening, or easily sell/build upon for home theater. My budget is a bit tight right now so I am looking to buy used so I can afford a higher quality piece. That said, I would also rather invest my money in a better 2 channel amp than a lesser 5 channel. Right now I have absolutely nothing to drive the Vantages with except a HK receiver, which I plan to use as a Pre-Pro.

I am looking for something that costs about $1000-$1500 whether New or Used. I’ve been looking on AudioGon and came across the following deals that might work

Cary Audio Cinema 2, $1200
SimAudio Moon W-3, $1400
Sunfire Cinema Grand, $1450

I am also looking at NEW Parasound A23/A21, Anthem A2, and NAD.

Do you guys have any suggestions? I have been a visitor on this forum for 2 years. I value your opinions and advice greatly.

Simaudio Moon W-3 !

Hi Brian 74,

I can vouch for the Moon W-3. I have one driving a set of CLS IIa right now and I'm quite sure it would me a great match for the Vantages: impressively built, powerful and at the same time refined, with enough current to control the panels !

Take care,

Hmmm... What a nice choice. I'd elect to go with either the SimAudio or the Parasound combo.

LOVE THAT SIM AUDIO GEAR! No experience with it but I have read MANY good things. They say the build quality and feel is second to none!

Pcar928fan said:

LOVE THAT SIM AUDIO GEAR! No experience with it but I have read MANY good things. They say the build quality and feel is second to none!

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I would have to agree, I had the SimAudio Moon P-3 which is the pre-amp that matches the W-3 amp. I sold it when I got the Pass Labs X1.

Hello Brian,

I just got a new pair of Vantages about a week and a half ago and I am very happy with my choice. You're going to love them, I predict.

As far as amps go, I have used Krell and Levinson with older Martin Logans and found both to be a good match, with Krell better by just a little bit. These may be beyond your budget, although some of the KAV series Krell can be found for around $1.5K to $2K.

I am using a Primare 5 channel amp now; it's a great combination with the Vantages. Primare makes a 2 channel amp that may be in your price range. The only down side is that Primare is a lesser known brand in the US, and may be a little more difficult to sell if you decide to do that later.

Good luck.

Bob R.

Do you guys think the Parasound A23 with 125x2, 8ohms and 225x2, 4 ohms would have sufficient power to drive the Vantage? While it's a high current amp, it doesn't "double down" as ML suggests.

Is the Parasound in the same league as the Cary and Simaudio?

Brian_74 said:

Do you guys think the Parasound A23 with 125x2, 8ohms and 225x2, 4 ohms would have sufficient power to drive the Vantage? While it's a high current amp, it doesn't "double down" as ML suggests.

Is the Parasound in the same league as the Cary and Simaudio?

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Hi,
It doesn't quite double down, but it's darn close. Many lower quality amps stay the same or even decrease the output watts at the lower impedance. I believe this is what ML is warning against. The Parasound should be fine...

Peter

Bryston's are nice

Joel

Sorry, but I'm a newbie with ML's, but doesn't the Vantage have an active bass?? If so, why would you need bucket loads of watts to power the panels?

Huey said:

, why would you need bucket loads of watts to power the panels?

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You don't !! As Roberto likes to say....."Quality over Quantity" , current delivery capability and one with excellent stability is important for the 'capactive' type of load (panels actually store energy that can be 'kicked' back to an amps output) that the ESL panel presents to an amplifier. This is actually more of an important factor than the low impedence drop @ high freq that most folks like to talk about, IMO.

twich54 said:

You don't !! As Roberto likes to say....."Quality over Quantity" , current delivery capability and one with excellent stability is important for the 'capactive' type of load (panels actually store energy that can be 'kicked' back to an amps output) that the ESL panel presents to an amplifier. This is actually more of an important factor than the low impedence drop @ high freq that most folks like to talk about, IMO.

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Hola and also agreed here. The amp that can not drive low impedance, the result is the lack of highs...and only that. If you like the quality of the sound, regardless of the amp specs, this is better than a great specs and poor sound. Trust your ears and choose the one that you like most. Listen carefully for the size of the instruments, and the stage. Don´t choose a pan cake thick stage...try to listen the truly 3D that ML is capable to produce. The right size of the instruments is something that you can demand too. An over size amp, will produce some musical notes to be bigger than they should be... listen carefully to a solo instrument, this will show you easelly the right size of it in all musical notes. Cymbals must be right with timbre and size, and where the drummer is at the recording...not a plastic drummer man playing, cymbals in front of you and the drums way back...also a trumpet or flugerhorn is very easy to understand. There are a lot of good recordings that can show you this. But, you must listen what you like most too. The kind of music that you are very used to. Martin Logan will show you all the musicians that are in the recording...and you can listen all of them with the right size and timbre, besides the location of them...I can not have enough of ML sound...I wish you a very happy listening,
Roberto.

I learned something the other nite about amplifier power.
I called my dealer to see what he had in stock, any demo specials, whatever, to drive my Ascent (i)s. He suggested a Primare I21 75 wpc integrated that he has on demo ($1,000). I told him that wasn't enough power, and he insisted I audition it. Hey, I like to check new stuff out as much as the next guy, so I told him I would. When I'm carrying a piece back home to audition, I usually drive really fast because I just can't wait to get it home and listen. But this time I just drove nice and slow because I knew it would be underpowered and a disappointment.
I'm buying that amp to replace a Quicksilver tubed linestage and a Sunfire 325 wpc Stereo II. No 2 ways about it - Beautiful sound, plenty of power. If the Primare is 75 wpc, then that Sunfire must be about 100 wpc, because there really wasn't that much difference in SPLs. At really loud levels, the Sunfire bests the Primare. But at levels that I listen to about 99% of the time, the Primare sounds much better. It has way more detail.
So, you learn something new every day. If I had Logans with a powered woofer, I'd start with as refined an amp as I could afford and not worry a whit about watts. If I found it didn't have enough power, only then I look for something bigger.

Thanks all for your input! I just got a call from my dealer today and my new babies are here! You can bet I'll be picking them up tomorrow.

Just when I thought I had narrowed down my amp choices between the Parasound or Sim Audio, I started looking at ATI. Anybody have one?

Brian_74 said:

Thanks all for your input! I just got a call from my dealer today and my new babies are here!

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I'll bet I saw your speakers being made while on the tour out in Lawrence a week ago Monday !!

Are your Vantages black with a walnut cabinet finish?

No, they are black on black. I couldn't bring myself to fork over the extra $$ for custom finish. Now I need to pull the trigger on an amp and some speaker cable!

roberto said:

I can not have enough of ML sound

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Can I get an Amen? :music:

Brian-

I'm not sure if it is an option but if you can stretch the budget a little bit there is someone selling a Meridan G57 on the Gon for $1900 obo!!! This thing has power and finesse

I absolutely love mine. It was worth every penny and I paid a bit more

Enjoy

Some bad news...It looks like the Parasound is too deep to fit in my home theater credenza. The sucker is 19 3/4" deep and the interior of my credenza is 20". Back to the drawing board in a sense.

Can anyone comment on ATI? 1800 series.